The Train Tunnel

The Train Tunnel is a place very few know about. An abandoned tunnel near Hogsmeade, which is rumored to be the source of 'The Light', the thing ghosts walk into when they choose to pass over. The Hogwarts Express has never passed along these train tracks, as it is also nicknamed The Bermuda Tunnel. Ghosts linger here, so only the brave dare enter.

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Collins

- "Sometimes people build up walls, not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to tear them down."Message Me - 23:09, October 14, 2018 (UTC)

Collins was making her way back home after making the trip to pick up an ingredient for a Wolfsbane Potion. She didn't want to go home, and it led to her simply wandering around. She eventually stumbled upon this place and decided to check it out. The longer she was out and about, the better in her book.

Hailie had been following Collins for a little bit now. Why Collins? She wasn't sure but she decided the girl was her next victim. To be walking around so late at night was dangerous in itself but walking into here? A place renowned for people disappearing? Perfect. If Collins wasn't going to be her target before, she was definitely going to be now. "You lost?" She asked, speaking up as she leant against the wall of the train tunnel, a few metres away from Collins. Her tone was light and amused, good natured. Hailie was relaxed, from her position to her smile. "Not many come through here."

- "Sometimes people build up walls, not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to tear them down."Message Me - 20:10, October 16, 2018 (UTC)

Collins barely gave the woman a glance. "I'm right where I wanna be." She answered ominously. Truthfully, she's been lost. She was lost the day she killed her father. Finding the way the woman spoke to her curious, Collins had half a mind to leave the place. Strangers don't talk to one another. People just mind their own business. So why then, was she talking to her? If Collins cared more, maybe she would've left.

Hailie had expected the girl to either shrug and walk off or seem slightly wary, but the girl didn't seem to even care. Good. Worked in Hailie's favour. "In a place known for being haunted by ghosts? Bit morbid, don't you think?" She asked. How fitting, though. Maybe the girl would turn into a ghost and haunt this place forever.

- "Sometimes people build up walls, not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to tear them down."Message Me - 17:30, October 19, 2018 (UTC)

Haunted. The girl almost laughed at the thought. She was already being haunted. What could a couple of ghosts do to her? Maybe it was the werewolf thing. Maybe it was just her personality. But it didn't scare her. Nothing scared her. Not even death. "Depends on your definition of morbid." Collins reasoned, her tone flat. "Is there a reason you're talking to me? You lonely or something?" She sighed, tired of the conversation already.

"Isn't everyone?" She asked as she pulled out her wand out of her back pocket, slowly to not arouse suspicion from the other girl. "By the way, probably better if you don't make a racket. It'll get a bit messy then," she remarked before levelling her wand up, muttering 'crutio' as quick as she could.

Family Reunion

He's technically been banned from these school trips to Hogsmeade, having been caught once too many times pocketing sweets from Honeydukes, but the recent discovery of the witch passage has made it super easy for Morgan to get into the town without setting off any traps now. The tunnel has become one of his favourite retreats: it's nice and quiet, and if he's lucky he can find a ghost or two to converse with. He's down here now, wandering aimlessly along the tunnel with his hands in his pockets, enjoying the peace.

While her years as a Parade progress, so do the ways in which she dumps bodies. As of lately, she's resorted to disposing bodies in very unorthodox ways - muggle ones, harder to trace back to her, much like her favored killing style. That's why she's here now, her wand tucked away safely as she seals the lid of the metal container with the body submerged in sodium hydroxide. She wandlessly - thank Merlin for her sixteen year old self's aptitude for being extra as fuck - moves the container into an already set orifice in the wall of the tunnel.

At first he thinks the silhouette in the distance is another ghost - but then Morgan notices the thing that she's holding, and realises she has to be real because since when could ghosts move - what is that thing, a coffin? - boxes into walls? His instinct tells him to run but his feet carry him forward, footsteps silent after years of learning how to stay inconspicuous in the shadows. Call it a survival tactic.

For over a decade and a half, Tessa has witnessed assassins, thieves and spies come and go. She's trained with masters of all three, but most importantly, she's the daughter of two of the people who either sit or previously sat at the top in terms of what they do best. So it should come as no surprise, really, when she catches movement out the corner of her eye, and spots that head of unruly black hair. She instantly feels the dread begin to form at the pit of her stomach, her mind already jumping to conclusions. Nonetheless, it's a big world, so she merely flicks her wrist and the pieces of concrete slowly come together to fix the wall, leaving no traces of what she'd been doing just now.

Her clear change in demeanour, even from this distance, makes it obvious to Morgan that he's been spotted; his better judgement tells him he should probably take off in the opposite direction, but instead he steps into what little light filters through the cracks in the tunnel, hands lifted to show he doesn't mean any harm. "Only me," he says, like she'll know him. His voice echoes off the walls and duplicates. "Don't want any trouble, miss."

The voice throws her back for a moment, as the first name that comes to mind is Carlisle. But that accent, that voice - it's smooth and it's confident, and she also comes to associate it with Sabrina. "Not that your mother would reprimand you if you did get into any," Her voice, as playful as she tries to make the quip, sounds detached. "Only if it garnered too much unwanted attention, or you tainted Dunstan's legacy," There's a brief pause, when her mind's eye drifts, focusing on the many times her work was called 'sloppy', near the start of her career as a master of the dark arts. "Or your work wasn't up to par."

His heartbeat instantly quickens as soon as she starts talking - not only does the accent have the French twang of his mother's to it, but the name Dunstan sound familiar... very familiar. "Do I know you?" he calls after a brief pause, squinting to try and see her features better without stepping any closer, for fear of what she might pull on him. "Do you know me?"

When Morgan doesn't step any closer, Tessa can already begin to see the differences between them. At his age - or what she thinks is his age, anyways - she would've dived right into making accusations left and right. "Sabrina must have mentioned me once, I'm sure," she pauses. "Though perhaps not. I've never been able to predict her moves, in the fifteen years I've known her."

The words confuse him further, and the air goes stiff as he becomes convinced this is all some ploy - there is no way his mum would send some random girl to corner him in a tunnel, right? "I could tell you, if I knew your name."

Oh. Yes, he sure as hell recognises that name; the memory of his mother informing him about his long-lost step-sister who runs the Parade and is kind of a psycho flashes in his brain, loud and clear. And here's the big deal in question, hiding a body? Honestly, you couldn't write it. "Tessa - Bellerose?"

It's bittersweet, watching her step-brother recognize her. Though on one hand she yearns to know what kind of life they could have had - a life with peace and vibrancy, like normal siblings - she also curses the second Sabrina fell into bed with Carlisle, forsaking her promise to Adele. She knows better than to allow her inner conflict to reflect on her face, so she keeps her face carefully composed, watching him with narrowed but otherwise expressionless eyes. "In the flesh," she confirms.

Now he knows who she is, and his heart is humming like helicopter blades behind his ribcage, Morgan begins to edge forward a little more, stepping further into the shadow as his eyes begin to adjust to the darkness and Tessa's features become more clear - the curls in her hair, her striking, familiar eyes. "And, um - whose flesh was that?" he asks, gesturing towards the door in the tunnel wall.

"Bones, actually. Sodium hydroxide does wonders on human flesh, did you know?" There's suddenly a smile on Tessa's face, but it's void of any proper emotion. "Who it was doesn't matter. All that does is that she's dead now."

He doesn't actually know what sodium hydroxide, at the confusion is probably visible on his face; his brows furrows as his eyes flick from the wall, to Tess, and back to the wall. "Did she deserve to die?" he eventually asks, voice level.

Morgan is as curious as she was a child, and the fact softens her considerably. She remembers hating having her questions dismissed. "The world is full of monsters with friendly faces, Morgan," she says, eventually, when she's finally found it in her to grace him with a response. "I think it'd do you well to remember that."

No shit, he thinks - does she fall under that self-proclaimed category? Probably. "I come from the Parade," he replies. The voice echoes and duplicates as it travels down the tunnel. "I know that as well as you do. My mum has been drilling it into me since I could talk."

"No. You come from an isolated island, sheltered in fears that all the wrong people would find out you exist and thus attempt to take advantage of Sabrina. You do not come from the Black Parade. You may have been born a le Fey, but by no means does that make you a Parader."

Her words kind of stun Morgan; wasn't she supposed to be family? The harshness bowls him over, and a few seconds pass before he manages to come up with some sort of reply. "And you aren't a real Bellerose," he says, keeping his voice as emotionless and detached as possible, subconsciously following his sister's lead. "If she hadn't had adopted you, you would have been just another troubled kid with dead criminal parents, and your real ones were expendable." He's been doing his homework. "I'm more of a Parader than you'll ever be."

Tessa smiles serenely, like his words hadn't hit her like a thousand, burning white knives. "Maybe," she concedes, tipping her head in acknowledgment of her origin story. "But at least I've come to accept my roots. You, on the other hand - your masculinity is currently too fragile to accept you don't have a place among the Paraders," she pauses. "Yet," Tessa knows Sabrina will groom him to be the perfect Parader - perhaps even her successor - but right now, they both know he's at the bottom of the food chain.

He lets out a little scoff at her words, deciding to up his pace and stroll towards her with newfound confidence and curiosity - now he's aware that she knows he's Sabrina's kid, he knows that she won't hurt him. "My fragile masculinity?" he echoes - someone's been spending too much time on the Wiznet. "I mean, I'm eleven years old, but go hard, I guess. And - never mind. We're harmless to each other."

"Mum was the one that ultimately decided I'd be going to Hogwarts. Sabrina didn't want me to," Tessa shakes her head. Seeing as her business here is done, and they most likely look very suspicious standing in a dark tunnel holding a casual conversation, she begins to walk, beckoning Morgan to follow her. "What of Carlisle? Did he not step in?"

Immediately he follows, the question confusing him for a second: where does he know that name fr- oh. "My dad? I've only ever seen photos," he admits, brow furrowed. "Why, have you met him? What was he like?"

Tessa side-eyes him, a surprised look on her face. "You've never met him? Was it Sabrina's decision as well? Carlisle is hardly the deadbeat type," she pauses. "He was... Carlisle. I'm - I'm not sure how to describe him."

"Like you said, Mum kept me hidden." His voice has become quite small and unsure. Maybe it's all this talking about the Parade or his dad - it's poked a small fire he had burning in the back of his mind. "Apparently he left before I was born. Was he a good person, at least? Well. As good as a Parader can be."

"Being a parader isn't easy. Every parader I've known has either died or disappeared - Carlisle isn't any different," she shrugs. "The only ones I've known to stick around are Sabrina, Søren, and Karith."

Her lips purse. The fact that Morgan knows who Adele is can only mean Sabrina has spoken about her, and while unsurprising, it still feels wrong, wrong, wrong. "Ask your mother," she answers, in the end. Talking about her still feels like a knife to the gut, and she can only assume he'll have questions she isn't fully sure she's ready to answer.

"It feels weird, referring to her as my other mother," she admits. Then again, it also feels weird talking so freely to someone that, up until ten or so minutes ago, she had believed she'd hate. "Even if she's been more of a mum to me than my actual mum has."

"Actual mum, like... Adele, or birth mum?" he frowns - there are a lot of mothers in this equation. He even manages to achieve a stab of sadness at Tessa's weird family situation. Maybe being born into the Parade isn't the glamarous badge of honour his mother wears it as.

She opens her mouth to answer, a sarcastic answer already at the tip of her tongue when she comes to realize: it's a bit of a fair question. One too many women are involved in her life, to the point the lack of testosterone is... amusing, really. "Adele," she says, slowly. "Dana wasn't - she was only involved in my life for a year after I was born," she explains. "I was motherless for another five - more, if you count all the times Adèle disappeared."

Hearing that Adele has been such a fleeting mother in Tessa's life kind of sends Morgan's stomach flipping around; does that mean Sabrina will follow suit? She's the leader, after all. "Maybe having a kid when you're a criminal isn't the best idea," he thinks aloud, referring to - well, both of them. "I mean, we're just blackmail material now, aren't we?"

Tessa isn't oblivious to the look on his face, and while she feels bad for plating the seeds of doubt in his mind, she trusts Sabrina will straighten all out if need be. She wouldn't be capable of abandoning either one of them if she could help it. Especially not now. "No, it's not," she agrees. "I could never imagine myself with children as a parader."

With a sigh, he looks down at the stones between the wooden slats of the train track, careful to step over them to avoid the child-like fear of a hand sneaking up and grabbing at his leg. "Looks like it's down to me to carry on the legacy," he says, with almost a jokey tone to his voice. It's definitely lighter than before. "Thanks for the pressure."

"Carry on the legacy?" Tessa echoes, sounding humored, in a way. Is this little boy truly expecting to carry on the Black Parade, let alone live long enough to ensure his own children do? "Alright, kid," she says in the end. Dropping her head, she sees the time, and - is it really this late? "I need to go," she announces, abruptly. "I've errands to run for - mother," Tessa tests it out, the word rolling off her tongue smoothly. She immediately grimaces; that'll surely take some time to get used to, if she ever does. "Try not to get caught around here, kid. You don't know the amount of bodies hidden inside the walls here."

Blake and Matty

Ever since she heard about this tunnel, somehow, from Jarryd, that still didn't know she was his cousin, Blake had been looking for it like crazy and once she found it, Blake screamed like a little girl. She wanted to spend some time with Matty before she finished school so she went back and left a note on her bed, telling her to be at the Tunnel.

"Like training is having a life. I'm actually on the school Quidditch team this year and train less than you." Blake said, smiling. "Speaking of getting a life, what you thinking of doing once you leave school?"

"That's pretty harsh Blakey" She laughed slightly "I wouldn't want to play on the same team as dad. I don't want people thinking I got on the team because i'm his daughter. I want to get in on my own merit"

Camila and Tori

- "People with great passion can make the impossible happen."Message Me - 19:34, September 19, 2017 (UTC)

She was out on a walk, and somehow, one way or the other, she wound up in the tunnel. Nearby, anyways. There was nothing and she felt inclined to leave. The place gave her the jitters. But then - then she sees Camila there. "...um."

Audi and Tilly

Audi wanders the tunnel, contemplating the light as she often does; thinks about how she could live the next 180 years without Eeku, Jessie, and Jesse - and how she'd outlive her younger siblings too, perhaps even being the last Evans. At no point did she seriously consider the light. Eeku must have come here to pass on. She wondered what that would have been like.

It was one of their Hogsmeade weekends and she decided to skip out of town and come here. Gaby's a prefect, yes, but she doubts her position isn't needed at the moment so she doesn't really worry about it that much. She wishes she could've brought her violin but she doubts this place has great acoustics anyways.

Footsteps echo rather loudly in this tunnel, so when she hears company, the brunette turns away from the streaming light and towards the way she had come. Seeing her sister she stands deathly still, barely daring to blink - her heartbeat, if she had one, would have been pounding. This day had always been comibg, the day Audi's non-humanity would have to be addressed, but it had surprised her. "Tilly," she breathes although she doesn't quite believe it, quiet so nobody else could hear. "You're out late."

As soon as she recognises the voice that called out her name, Gaby's response was immediate, eyes darting around the tunnel before landing on the figure of her big sister. Oh god she hasn't seen Aya for too long and she feels emotions bubbling in her chest. Aya looks paler than usual but Gaby doesn't care as she sprints straight to Aya, giving her a bear hug as a greeting. "Wh- Where have you been?!"

For a moment the anxiety twisting her insides is forgotten, as she's crushed in the bear hug. "Gotta breathe," she huffs out, after a while, stepping back to get some air before the blood rushes to her head. It had been hard to divert her attention from her sister's steady, strong heartbeat, but Narkissa said that would come with time. "It's a long story, kiddo. How's school been going for you?"

"I got Ravenclaw prefect~" was the first thing that Gaby announced. "School is relatively boring though, none of you are around." She's referring not only to Aya, but the rest of their siblings as well. "But I have Tessa though so it's manageable. How about you?"

"Congratulations!" She grins, it falters slightly at the mention of the siblings they've lost. (They're just beyond that light, sing-songs a voice in her head, calling her on a faraway aria. She ignores it even if it feels like the light is reaching out towards her behind her back.) She recognises Tessa's name but all she can remember is back from when Tilly was smaller. "Um, well, I ran into Blake." They don't talk about Blake much, not since she'd left Audi at the altar. "And I've nearly died. So, nothing much."

She frowns deeply at the mention of Blake, not really that fond of the other girl anymore after what she did to Aya but says nothing. Her frown got even deeper when Aya mentioned a near death, "But you're okay, right? You're not hurting anywhere? Who tried to hurt you?"

Her reaction to Blake is expected, as is the concern. "I'm okay now," she replies, rubbing at the scar on her wrist. "It was...it was one of Conrad's old clients. I don't know how they even found me, but they weren't happy. Somebody saved my life." Audi omits Narkissa's name, for now. "The weird thing is...I've never told her, but she looks just like Jessie." Her voice is thick with emotion.

Her gaze hardened, "What did they look like? I can hunt them down, I still have that catalog of all of his clients." Nobody hurts her siblings and gets away with it... Though her urge for vengeance was tempered down at the mention of her late older sister's name, expression morphing to that of years of grief and pain. "Jes- Jessie?"

"No, don't worry about it, I'm fine," she insists. "Yeah. I thought I was dying and everyone was coming for me but...no, just a doppelgänger." She pulls her sister into a second hug at the sight of the look on her face.

She wants to make a remark about how technically it's already consumed her, but she just can't find it in her. She returns the hug, relaxing into it because Sabrina is a reminder of home. She's a piece of it. And really, she's feeling homesick. "Tired," she answers. "Taking on so many NEWT courses wasn't a good idea."

She places her hand on the back of Tessa's head, stroking her hair in a matronly fashion. "The year is only beginning, I'm sure if you spoke to your head of house, you'd be able to drop some subjects." She advises. "I wanted to tell you something. Personally."

Her other eyebrow lifts and she purses her lips. She wanted to have her fun and act disapproving, but also this was Sabrina and she could smell a fake a mile away. Thus, as quick as the thought came, it fled. "I know."

Oh. Oh, shit. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she tries to look nonchalant whilst trying not to tense and blab. It's hard. Renée hasn't told Sabrina yet, clearly, and maybe she should already know, but it's not her place. It's risk getting killed by Sabrina when she finds out she was hiding this from her, or risk getting killed by Renée when she finds out she talked. "The whole amnesia thing," she settles for that, putting a smile for show.

Lies. "You know what I like most about you, Tess? You're a smart girl. You understand the value of loyalty, and that's extremely commendable." She begins, "Whatever it is, you're protecting Renee from, let me help. The last person who kept secrets from me ended up in a very unenviable position." She says, thinking of Morgan. "Let me help."

"Here I was, thinking it was my being Renée's daughter that you liked most," she says jokingly, a hint of laughter in her voice that dies out shortly thereafter. "Push her buttons about Italy," she says in the end, with a sigh. Renée needs help, and quite frankly, she's gonna get it, whether she wants it or not. And I'd quite like to see them pay for what they did. "Stop at nothing. I'm not going to outright betray her trust, but she needs this. You," she adds, sounding slightly put off. "I tried to help and she... didn't take nicely to it."